Emotions From Inside Out, Pt. 1: A Fitness Feels Trip

Have you seen Pixar’s newest movie, Inside Out? If you haven’t, you’re really missing out! It’s an awesome movie that appeals to audiences young and old with a nice mix of humor, drama and some flavors of bio-psychology that take you on an exciting trip inside the brain. Here’s a quick run-down of the plot — Riley is an 11 year-old girl who lives in Minnesota, and happens to have a great life…until her parents decide the family’s moving across country to San Francisco. It would seem like Riley is the star of the show here, but the majority of the movie takes place inside Riley’s head, where her five basic emotions: Disgust, Fear, Sadness, Anger, and Joy are heading up the main control center of her brain. It’s a fascinating perspective to take on, and you can’t help thinking about what your inner emotions must look like in your own brain as you’re watching. If you haven’t seen the movie, or just want to relive the experience, check out the preview below to get a more in-depth look at the emotions from Inside Out.

I was lucky enough to see this movie with my mom, who’s also very psych-minded, and taught me most of what I know about the basics of emotional intelligence. Let’s just say, we paused a lot of movies when I was growing up to do a little check-in on how the characters were feeling and why that might be — so this was the perfect movie for us to see together! In re-hashing the movie, we started talking about how all of the emotions, while relevant to most life experiences, were also very applicable to what you experience along the course of a fitness journey.

Emotions From Inside Out: Let’s Go on a Feels Trip!

If you’re anywhere along the line of your fitness journey, you have probably experienced all of these feelings at one point or another. So, we’re going on a little Feels Trip! No, no this is not your classic field trip to the orchard, zoo or government building — this is a feels trip to meet each of the different emotions from Inside Out that you may experience along your own fitness journey. We’ll dig into how these emotions may hinder or accelerate your progress, and discuss some strategies that you can use to work through each of these emotions you’ll undoubtedly experience.

We have five exciting stops that we’ll be making along our feels trip over the next five days, and you won’t want to miss a single one. So buckle up, and get ready for the ride! First stop: Disgust!

Emotions From Inside Out: Disgust

Of the emotions from Inside Out, Disgust’s character was mostly responsible for bringing out that too-cool-for-school attitude Riley was beginning to develop as a pre-teen. She was on top of her game when it came to identifying Riley’s new room as, coincidentally, “disgusting” and not nearly as cool as her old one. She had a keen nose for calling off the Broccoli pizza in San Francisco – I can’t say I disagreed with her assessment either – pizza needs meat, in my book. Overall, the character was used to help Riley distinguish between things that were appealing, and definitely not so.

In fitness, disgust is often the catalyst that leads to a significant life change. In the case of a fitness journey, you may be disgusted by the way you look, the bad habits you’ve established, your quality of life and relationships, or any number of circumstances. Feelings of disgust can often times lead to positive action that can change your circumstances for the better. Whatever it is that disgusts you about your situation, can be the very thing that drives you to make change, and be your “why,” as discussed in 6 Ways to Achieve Any Goal.

Feelings of disgust can also lead to some potentially negative impacts along your journey. Some may be driven by these feelings to take extreme, unhealthy, measures in order to change their circumstances. They may resort to excessively low calorie diets, not eating at all, or taking other measures to get rid of any calories they’ve consumed. In these cases, the feeling of disgust may never go away, since very little, or extreme, undesired change may be seen instead.

Due to the fact that we’re all human, I assume, and most likely our own toughest critic, we will usually be able to find something about ourselves, or our bodies that “disgusts” us. It might be something physical, like a particular part of the body where we retain fat/lack muscle development, or something deeper like a personality trait, or thought about ourselves and overall worth. No matter where you are in your fitness journey, there is always something that you’ll want to work to improve. The good news is – this can be used for good.

The most important thing to remember when you’re dealing with disgust, is to recognize what type of emotion you’re experiencing, and use it to drive you to make change in a healthy, positive way. This can actually be a great emotional tool to help you continue setting goals for yourself and always reach for the next level. This is much easier said than done, but can be accomplished by utilizing the tools that work best for you.

Here are a few strategies to help you work through Disgust:

Identify your strengths. What are you not disgusted by? What are you good at? What do people like about you? What do you like about yourself? Strengths can be anything from skill-based attributes (ex. I’m good at cooking, I’m a good writer, I’m good at fixing cars, etc.), to deeper, personality traits (ex. I connect with others easily, I’m a good listener, I’m a good judge of character, etc.). The point is, when you’re working through a feeling like disgust, you want to first start by reminding yourself that you’re not ALL bad. Nobody is ALL bad – maybe Jeffrey Dahmer, but if you’re not a serial killer…hey, you’re already on the right path, and that’s a strength!

If you give yourself a chance to review all of the strengths you already possess, you prime yourself for success in conquering the things that you still want to work on. Let’s take a look at the difference.

“Nobody likes me anymore because I’m fat…and I don’t blame them, because I wouldn’t want to hang out with me either – I look disgusting.”

vs.

“I’m really good at making connections with people, and have a great sense of humor. However, I’m disgusted by the way I look right now because of the weight I’ve put on over the past year, which makes me feel less confident and unmotivated to do things with others.”

Ok, so you’re probably not going to start reframing your thoughts and feelings like a psychologist might, but you get the idea. If you start with your strengths, it can make processing the areas you’d like to improve a little less painful, and more manageable to overcome.

Find somebody that you trust to discuss the feelings of disgust you have about yourself or your current situation. Sometimes it helps to talk through your feelings and get some affirmation (about your disgust and your strengths) from somebody else – and a different perspective.

In some cases, you may even want to seek out a professional to talk with, depending on how intense these feelings are for you, especially if you’ve struggled to determine any of your own strengths. Working on improving your self-image and utilizing some more intense strategies, with the guidance of a professional, to improve your mindset may be the first step you need to take in order to be ultimately successful.

If you’re not overly excited about the idea of talking to somebody about your feelings, and you like to write, journaling may be another effective outlet for you to get your thoughts out. In the event you don’t like to write – and I work in the schools, so I know there are several of you out there – you can also go with audio or video. Whether you’re re-reading, re-watching or re-listening to your thoughts, it’s a good way to dig a little deeper into where these feelings are coming from and what to do next in order to work through it.

Once you’ve found a way to process through what you’re feeling, identify the #1 (controllable) source of what is causing your disgust. Is it your weight? Is it feeling weak? Is it your diet and how it makes your body feel? In any number of cases, there can be several sources of disgust, and it can be very overwhelming to try and work on all of them at once. Determine what the #1 issue is for you, you’ve found a great place to start.

Have you experienced this emotion along your fitness journey? Let us know how you handled it, and any tips you might have for our other readers working through feelings of disgust!

21 Responses

My kids and I just saw Inside Out and liked it, too! I never thought about it relating to my fitness struggles which have gone on for most of my adult life. Very interesting read! I’m looking forward to your next post about fear.

Love love love your article! I’m not on a fitness journey (at least not voluntarily 🙂 but I can definitely understand the feelings you are describing. I think we get to feel the disgust you talked about in different areas of our life, and it’s great that you help people know how to deal with it. And now I’ve got a new movie to see on my list! thanks! 🙂

Thanks Claudia! I think you’re right…disgust and really, all of the emotions, on a daily basis with everything life throws at us. It’s interesting when you think about how it applies to so many different aspects of our lives. I think you’ll really enjoy the movie! I actually thought it was a little “deep” for some of the younger kids, but totally relate-able for adults, and a great conversation starter to talk about emotions with kids! Hope you enjoy it!

Thanks for the comment, Robert! Disgust is a bit heavy to describe those initial feelings, haha — depending on where you’re at, or how far gone you feel you are. I can totally relate to the fast food cravings! It seems like, no matter how long you stay on a good eating regimen, fast food always sounds good. Makes for a great cheat meal for the psychological break!

What a fantastic premise for a movie, and I love that Disney decided to do. I wanted to touch on your suggestion about journaling… I stood clear of this for a long time because I thought I didn’t need it, or that the only people who journal were teenage girls. what I’ve found over the years is that journaling is an excellent way to get the clutter out of your brain, regardless of whether it’s disgust or otherwise… you’d be surprised how many successful people journal, too. it can certainly help boost your own self esteem. that said, it’s been a while since I journaled so thanks for the reminder 🙂

Agreed, Frank! Journaling is an awesome way to get your thoughts out, and help organize your mind a little bit. Journaling can take on so many forms, too. It doesn’t have to be eloquently written paragraphs or anything — it can be bullet points, single words that describe how you’re feeling, a PR you got at the gym, highs and lows from the day, goals for tomorrow — whatever people want it to be. It’s also a great tool for monitoring progress, especially from a mindset point of view. Reading back over progress in confidence and mindset from the beginning of any difficult journey is just mindblowing…so much changes over time as we grow and progress!

Hi Megan! What a well written article! I just started a new journey to a fitter me a few weeks ago. I guess I have been feeling disgust about my body ever since having two children. Over the past four years, I’ve been reluctant to put the time in to workout because I would feel bad not being with my children (after working all day and being apart from them.) The thought of that disgusted me as well I guess. As of now, I am taking the kids with me when I exercise in the stroller (although they often fight in their small confinement) and I am planning to work out right after school (when I return to work in the fall) and before I pick them up. I do feel better about myself although it will be a while before I see results. I feel I am setting a better example for my kids and hopefully it will lead to a healthier, longer, fulfilled life! Thanks for putting and interesting spin on this movie (which I have yet to see) and its relation to fitness! Miss your awesomeness and hope all is well!

Seidl!! So excited to hear from you 🙂 Congrats on getting started on your journey — that’s definitely the hardest part. Sounds like you have a good plan in place to keep the iron hot once we get into the school year…really tough to stay away from those delicious lounge treats and such. I bet you can do it though! I have some good stuff coming up soon that might help you out here and there 😉 Miss you!

Nice twist on your post using the movie as a metaphor. I personally have not seen the movie but understand the concept that the movie would have portrayed.
A lot of people would most likely relate to your metaphor with this concept towards there fitness as your mind can certainly have varying thoughts as you mentioned.
Nice approach on the topic.

Thanks for stopping by Travis 🙂 I think the movie was awesome because it almost MADE you look inside yourself and relate the emotions to your own life — and whatever aspect is most important to you. It was my hope that the lens I viewed the movie through would connect with some other people who have struggled on their journey as well!

Megan – love your website! I haven’t seen Inside Out yet but it’s definitely on my movie list. I agree that journaling is a great tool. I’m working hard on some fitness goals and can certainly relate to the disgust element that you talk about. What works best for me is to just try and stay on course one day at a time. Most days are good as far as exercise and healthy choices in regards to food. What I find is if you have a bad day in regards to exercise, healthy eating, etc. is you can always reboot the next day and get back on track and don’t give up. Hope all is well with you.

Thanks Mary! I bet you’ll love the movie — it’s hard not to love something that Amy Poehler is in, haha. Sounds like you have a great approach to your fitness goals! You’re right…we’re ALL going to have bad days, and the most important thing is starting back up the very next morning. You can’t fail if you don’t give up! Hope to see you soon 🙂

I love this post!! Totally got me with this, I have heard about this movie but not yet seen it, now I want to see it even more, I am sure my kids would love it too. Very interesting how you have created this post, these emotions, especially disgust are all emotions we all struggle with at times. Looking forward to more, thanks for this 🙂

Wow, this is a pretty in debt post, I cannot say I have watched ‘Inside Out’ yet, I know my daughters have watched it and thoroughly enjoyed it. I love how you have used this movie as an example to break down our emotions. This is truly a very interesting post and I can relate to a lot of it 🙂

[…] or those where she might experience judgment (If you’re not sure who Riley is, check out the first post in this series for a re-cap ). Sound like anything you might experience along your fitness […]

[…] in handy during hockey games (if you need a recap on these event – check out the preview in the first post of this series). As we all know, pre-teens can be pretty chippy, so Anger played a pretty […]

[…] prior to making the decision to make a conscious life change. We talked about this when we visited Disgust, but even prior to feeling disgust, most of us probably felt some level of sadness as a result of […]